CLEVELAND — George Pataki says he “understand[s]” people who can’t believe he would be both against abortion and for keeping Roe v. Wade as the “law of the land.”
The former New York governor told The Daily Caller Thursday evening that he realizes abortion is “a very emotional issue. It’s an issue that people have strong feelings about. I appreciate that and respect that.”
Challenged by Fox News’s moderators earlier in the evening about being the only pro-choice candidate on stage, Pataki stuck to his guns in a way that left some pro-life conservatives baffled.
“My heart hasn’t changed,” he said. “I’ve always been appalled by abortion. I’m a Catholic. I believe life begins at conception.
“When you look at these [undercover Planned Parenthood] videos,” Pataki said, “they are horrific, they show a hideous disrespect for life.”
But, Pataki said, the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision is the “law of the land” — and the United States shouldn’t change that.